Connyie Rethmann …
… I am a perpetually hungry student who lives for research and innovation, a tireless search for real humanity and aesthetic beauty …
For more than 35 years, Connyie Rethmann has devoted herself to the design of absolutely exclusive PRIVATSACHEN dresses and flattering PRIVATSACHEN accessories that fit into any look, an obsession and a love of working with the best materials and their hidden possibilities. An ever-new, intensely lived affair with the design of natural materials in surface patterns, structures and shapes that love the movement of the body. A complex, elaborate, unique artistic colouring process, carried out by hand in Hamburg. Every piece of clothing, every accessory represents a work process full of dedication, which can never be repeated in the same way, so each piece is an individual made with love for our customers. A colour-intensive relationship to special craftsmanship in ever-new forms of expression, by women for women.
when shapes are simple, colour is the key …
I avoid the world of fixed rules …
my imagination was always my way out …
Connyie Rethmann
Clothes Autor
My life is my clothes lab, and I am my own experiment. Scepticism is my strongest muscle and inspires me every day. Trust is the textile key. Something good will come of every attempt, even it is just a new experience. The aim of the day is to keep scrutinising my work and to turn apparent weaknesses into advantages. My clothes are a metaphor for my biography.
As a clothes author, details are essential. They are everything I need to know and always find me some way or other. Every day, I passionately and actively look for new knowledge of all kinds, from which I then draw inspiration. I write clothes, I cook clothes, I compose clothes. Poetry, traditional handicrafts, cultural influences of all kinds, my childhood memories of clothes, ancient techniques and my unconditional confidence transform what I have seen and heard into something palpable. I feel very privileged to be able to do what I love every day, to do what I love most in all the world and that my clothes tell of this love. I don’t make fashion. I make high culture clothes for women who don’t want to allow themselves to go cheap.
Connyie
Presse Article
»Connyie Rethman / Dagmar Venohr — Ein Küchengespräch mit Connyie Rethmann über Kleider, Kollektionen und Kundinnen«
PUBLISHED IN »NETZWERK MODE TEXTIL«, JAHRBUCH 2019 (German Language)
»Für Connyie Rethmann und ihr Label PRIVATSACHEN ist 2019 ein Jahr der Jubiläen: Seit bereits 35 Jahren ›veröffentlicht‹ sie Kleider und feiert in diesem Frühjahr selbst ihr 60. Lebensjahr. Grund genug Inspirationsideen ihres Schaffens vorzustellen und in einem persönlichen Gespräch nachzufragen, warum sich alles so zeigt, wie es scheint. Wir trafen uns zum Jahresbeginn am 3. Januar 2019 bei köstlichen Speisen und heißem Tee in ihrer heimeligen Küche in Hamburg und sprachen über allerlei Widersprüchlichkeiten und unbedingt Zusagendes (...)«
»Private and confidential«
CONNYIE RETHMANN'S PERSONAL APPROACH TO FASHION
from Dr. Elisabeth Hackspiel, published in »Selvedge«, Issue 18, 2007
“Miss World” (don't panic, I'm organic) – is the first in a roll call of names that guide the current collection of Privatsachen (private clothes or private matters), an avant-garde fashion label by Cocon.commerz based in Hamburg, Germany. Joining this mysterious woman are “Miss Leading (a textile-interpreting artist heading for the stars), Miss Fortune (a highly talented rejecter of the average) and Miss Chief (a career woman with a penchant for materials) – Connyie Rethmann, chief designer clearly loves a whimsical play on words. When she conceives a new collection she combines her passion for words and literature with her effervescent talent for designing garments in unusual shapes, patterns and colours.
